Wasps Buzz to Four-Peat

Woodstock Girls
Add to Trophy Case

Woodstock’s Elizabeth Bassette makes a landing in the long jump during the Vermont Division III track and field championship at Green Mountain High School in Chester, Vt., yesterday. (Valley News - Libby March) Purchase photo reprints »

Chester, Vt. — As her Woodstock Union High teammates charged toward another Vermont state title, sophomore pole-vaulter Kathryn Bassette passed up a chance to set a state record in order to set her sights on a higher goal.

Bassette passed on the event until the 9-foot mark, then made three successful jumps that gave her first place in the event during the VPA Division III state meet yesterday at Green Mountain Union High School.

After eliminating the competition at the 9-foot-6-inch level, Bassette could have chosen to try a vault at 10-3, which would have eclipsed the state record of 10-1. Instead, she chose to go for the 10-6 mark “in order to get ready for the New Englands (next week),” she said.

Her first two vaults at that level were not her best, but her third attempt was real close, knocking the bar off after barely giving it a nudge.

“I would have made 10-foot-3 on that last leap,” she said.

There were three state records set on a blistering day that saw Woodstock win the girls crown for the fourth consecutive year and Bellows Falls the boys title.

State records were set in the girls’ 200 meters, the boys’ 200 and the boys’ 300 hurdles. Hannah Merriam of Peoples set the mark in the 200 meters for girls with a time of 26.0 seconds; Oxbow’s William Heathman broke his own year-old standard in the boys 200 with a 22.53; and T.J. Bernier of Bellows Falls set a record with a 41.47 in the 300-meter hurdles.

It was a big day for Woodstock’s Kathryn Bassette, who not only won the pole vault, but was second in the both hurdle events and the long jump.

Teammate Carmen Bango, just a freshman, won the 400, 800 and 1,500. Bango won the 1,500 by 17 seconds and the 800 by 10 seconds.

Woodstock senior Elizabeth Bassette, the older sister of Kathryn Bassette, was on her fourth state championship team in as many years and made her contribution by winning the long jump and triple jump.

While Bellows Falls finished second to Woodstock in the girls meet, the Terriers’ Enny Mustapha had a big day with first-place finishes in the shot and javelin and a second in the discus.

Thetford’s Ian Weider was a key factor in his team’s second-place finish in the boys meet winning the long jump and 100. He was econd in the 200.

Terrier David Dunbar, after placing second in long jump, won the high jump with a leap of 6-foot-2.

There was concern all day of that thunderstorms might arrive, as officials thought the heavy rain would come as early as 2 p.m. “That’s my biggest fear,” said meet director Jonathan Rice.

While the winds picked up, the skies never darkened.

This was the first year the D-III and D-IV meets were not combined, as the D-IV meet was held on Friday. So instead of having to deal with 550 athletes, the numbers were cut in half. Rice said that certainly contributed to the quickness of the meet, which concluded at 4:15 p.m., two hours earlier than other years.

VPA representative Burns Page said the was impressed with the way the competitors supported one another.

“You don’t always see that at other meets,” he said.

One of the more impressive performances was the Woodstock 4x800 meter relay team of Luke Dupuis, Anthony Bald, Dylan Stuntz and Harry Linowski, which won its event by nearly 12 seconds.

The Bellows Falls boys made their most noise in the distance events. The Terriers’ Jamie Moore, Willie Moore and Collin Johnson finished 1-2-3 in the 3,000 meters.

Jamie Moore, a junior, won the 800 and 1,500 in addition to his 3,000 triumph. His brother, Willie, also finished third in the 1,500. He ran with a broken wrist, which he injured while playing baseball. He took up track for the spring season.